Revolution #51, June 18, 2006
The St. Bernard(pre-Katrina home to about 3,000 residents, overwhelmingly Black(is New Orleans’ largest public housing complex. The residents, who desperately want to reoccupy their homes, have been continually stonewalled by HANO, Housing Authority of New Orleans, which is run by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. As FEMA benefits are rapidly running out, and the prospects of homelessness are becoming all too real to thousands, public housing residents are being told that they cannot return for reasons of ‘safety.’ Only about 900 families out of a former population of well over 14,000 families living in public housing have returned. About 90% of pre-Katrina public housing units, many of which were not even damaged by the storm, remain shuttered. [read more]